Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#41

Post by chime » Sat, Mar 24, 2012, 5:09 PM UTC

trotsky wrote: post #23

While I'd be willing to bet this is due to some malware flag (as that pretty much always ends up being the case with IM provider X is censoring Y), I am baffled as to why people would consider it scandalous that a multi-billion dollar company who makes pretty much all of its revenue from selling intellectual property licenses might drop links conveyed using its free service to a site that is unabashedly one of the wo…

Because now they have taken a role of pro-active censorship/moderation of private communication. Will Hotmail allow such links for long? How about Bing? Can I paste these links in an Excel/Word file on Office365? What about non-free services like MS Lync, Exchange, and Outlook?

Forget the need for deep-packet inspection. If major web services stop users from linking to TPB and other sites, MPAA etc. will have accomplished their goals of restricting legitimate users' activities. Who else is going to follow their lead now?

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#42

Post by mrebus » Sat, Mar 24, 2012, 5:13 PM UTC

javert wrote: post #39

jacquesm wrote: post #15

We'll be seeing a lot more of this in the next couple of years. The RIAA and the MPAA will get more and more desperate and will call in more favors with industry buddies as they get closer to the recognition that they are losing the war in spite of winning a couple of battles. In the Netherlands 'Brein', one of the rights organizations has done more to promote the pirate bay than the pirate bay ever could have hoped…

I'm disappointed to see the destruction of property rights (intellectual or otherwise) being lauded on HN. The RIAA and MPAA make deals with artists to distribute their music, and you want to interfere and just steal it instead. It's dishonest, it's juvenile, and it's eroding at the basis of society (equality under the law, property rights, basic respect and goodwill towards others, etc.).

Just because you use the word property doesn't make intellectual monopolies property.

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#43

Post by drchaos » Sat, Mar 24, 2012, 5:13 PM UTC

7952 wrote: post #16

udp wrote: post #4

So, what's the most convenient way to IM with end-to-end encryption? I don't like the idea of it being possible for an intermediate to scan through my private messages.

Possibly Skype? It does have end to end encryption but this is hard to validate independently.

Well I for one hope they roll out this "feature" in Skype too, ASAP. I've been preaching to (some of) my buddies for years now why it is not a good idea to rely on a closed, centralized platform for communication, but they keep on telling me that Skype is just "so convenient" and they "don't need anything else".

Making Skype less convenient (by means of censorship) would mean that open and decentralized alternatives like XMPP get more attention, and that's a good thing IMHO.

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#44

Post by jb55 » Sat, Mar 24, 2012, 5:15 PM UTC

18pfsmt wrote: post #8

udp wrote: post #4

So, what's the most convenient way to IM with end-to-end encryption? I don't like the idea of it being possible for an intermediate to scan through my private messages.

I would suggest using an XMPP-based service, and then using a client like Pidgin with an Off The Record (OTR) plugin.

It's kind of sad that most IM clients do not provide OTR out of the box, I would use it all the time but unfortunately most people do not use pidgin or Adium.

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#45

Post by nextparadigms » Sat, Mar 24, 2012, 5:15 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #15

We'll be seeing a lot more of this in the next couple of years. The RIAA and the MPAA will get more and more desperate and will call in more favors with industry buddies as they get closer to the recognition that they are losing the war in spite of winning a couple of battles. In the Netherlands 'Brein', one of the rights organizations has done more to promote the pirate bay than the pirate bay ever could have hoped…

I think that trend will continue in the future. Either other companies or the Government itself trying to bypass laws by just partnering with other private companies to censor stuff for them. (Remember what happened with Amazon/Paypal/Visa and Wikileaks?)

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#46

Post by natesm » Sat, Mar 24, 2012, 5:15 PM UTC

javert wrote: post #39

jacquesm wrote: post #15

We'll be seeing a lot more of this in the next couple of years. The RIAA and the MPAA will get more and more desperate and will call in more favors with industry buddies as they get closer to the recognition that they are losing the war in spite of winning a couple of battles. In the Netherlands 'Brein', one of the rights organizations has done more to promote the pirate bay than the pirate bay ever could have hoped…

I'm disappointed to see the destruction of property rights (intellectual or otherwise) being lauded on HN. The RIAA and MPAA make deals with artists to distribute their music, and you want to interfere and just steal it instead. It's dishonest, it's juvenile, and it's eroding at the basis of society (equality under the law, property rights, basic respect and goodwill towards others, etc.).

Unlimited copyright terms are eroding the basis of society (the Constitution). 5 to 10 years would be reasonable.

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#47

Post by apawloski » Sat, Mar 24, 2012, 5:16 PM UTC

pirateking wrote: post #12

udp wrote: post #4

So, what's the most convenient way to IM with end-to-end encryption? I don't like the idea of it being possible for an intermediate to scan through my private messages.

Messages in OS X Mountain Lion will support end-to-end encryption by default (for messages sent through iMessage)[1]. [1] http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/features.html#mess...

This pretty surprising. Given the industry standard with mining similar communications I'm surprised that Apple gave up a gigantic pool of user information like that.

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#48

Post by javert » Sat, Mar 24, 2012, 5:19 PM UTC

natesm wrote: post #46

javert wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm disappointed to see the destruction of property rights (intellectual or otherwise) being lauded on HN. The RIAA and MPAA make deals with artists to distribute their music, and you want to interfere and just steal it instead. It's dishonest, it's juvenile, and it's eroding at the basis of society (equality under the law, property rights, basic respect and goodwill towards others, etc.).

Unlimited copyright terms are eroding the basis of society (the Constitution). 5 to 10 years would be reasonable.

Yeah, because I just can't stand to pay an enormous amount like $10 or $20 for that book or album I really have to have.

I think it's unreasonable to expect people who make things to be able to profit from them for more than 5 years.

Hell, why don't we make all property expire after 5 or 10 years?

Please don't take the sarcasm personally; it was just the best way to illustrate my point.

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#49

Post by javert » Sat, Mar 24, 2012, 5:23 PM UTC

mrebus wrote: post #42

javert wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm disappointed to see the destruction of property rights (intellectual or otherwise) being lauded on HN. The RIAA and MPAA make deals with artists to distribute their music, and you want to interfere and just steal it instead. It's dishonest, it's juvenile, and it's eroding at the basis of society (equality under the law, property rights, basic respect and goodwill towards others, etc.).

Just because you use the word property doesn't make intellectual monopolies property.

If you don't like the words, good, go look at the moral foundation that underlies the idea.

It is a fact of reality that it is morally right to give people ownership rights for things they produce (besides, again, being the basis of society). And why not? Paying for something rather than stealing it (or changing the law so it's not officially "stealing" anymore), just isn't that big of a deal.

Re: Microsoft Censors Pirate Bay Links in Windows Live Messenger

#50

Post by rhizome » Sat, Mar 24, 2012, 5:26 PM UTC

javert wrote: post #48

natesm wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlimited copyright terms are eroding the basis of society (the Constitution). 5 to 10 years would be reasonable.

Yeah, because I just can't stand to pay an enormous amount like $10 or $20 for that book or album I really have to have. I think it's unreasonable to expect people who make things to be able to profit from them for more than 5 years. Hell, why don't we make all property expire after 5 or 10 years? Please don't take the sarcasm personally; it was just the best way to illustrate my point.

Which part is the sarcasm?